The game was previously announced with a release window of winter of 2012 for North America, but has now been confirmed to be headed to North America and Europe simultaneously in the first quarter of 2013.

Ni no Kuni was released in Japan on November 17, 2011. In the past, developer Level-5 noted that the game's prolonged Western translation due to the company's goal of localizing the game "with the same level of quality and attention to detail that fans of Level-5 and Studio Ghibli have come to expect."